Old Southwest Conference Foes Renew Series

by muslimsdonteatme on October 3, 2009

A few days ago, Arkansas running backs coach Tim Horton tried to bring up the past while speaking to his group of young tailbacks.

It didn’t go so well, though.

Horton told his players who are at least half his age about what it was like for him as an Arkansas wide receiver in the late 1980s to face Texas A&M every year in the now-defunct Southwest Conference.

But Horton quickly realized he was losing his audience. Turns out, the running backs weren’t interested in another boring history lesson.

“I brought it up the other day, and it was like, ‘Ah, whatever, coach,” said Horton, who turns 42 on Oct. 20. “… We moved on to the next subject pretty quick.”

Many of the freshmen who made up Arkansas’ 2009 recruiting class were only a few months old the last time the Razorbacks and Aggies played each other in football a 13-3 win by Texas A&M on Nov. 16, 1991. *

But after an 18-year hiatus, Arkansas (1-2, 0-2 Southeastern Conference) and Texas A&M (3-0) are about to renew a series that dates back to 1903. And in the process, the two schools hope a possible rivalry will be born at 6:30 p.m. today when they kick off the first of at least 10 Southwest Classics in the Dallas Cowboys’ new $1.15 billion stadium.

“Ever since I first got here, there’s been a lot of people that talked about the rivalry with Texas A&M and the old Southwest Conference days,” Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino said. “A lot of our boosters, a lot of guys that came to our fantasy camp, are very aware of the rivalry.